La Langue Francaise

Now that I have made my airline reservations for Paris, I am beginning to believe I am finally going to this place I have visited only in my dreams. This trip as not optional. It is a must do. I cannot see myself entering old age without the French experience. Some of the words and phrases I learned long ago are seeping back into my vocabulary as old memories do, and tonight I found the word facile rolling off my tongue in conversation. When I was a teenager, ma mere occasionally tired of my overusage of poorly spoken French, but I was in love - with the language. I boasted to my husband how I loved the language and once was in a position to use it. He and I were in northern Vermont already and decided to drive up to Quebec. Why not! I couldn't wait to go into a store and use what I had learned in my favorite high school class. We were in a rural area and it was dark, but we did find one convenience store that was open. I got a couple of French magazines and some cookies with French names on them and went to pay. The clerk quickly spoke something foreign to me that I did not understand, and my mind went blank. Dumbstruck, I could not remember sil vous plait, merci, bon jour. Neither could I remember any English. It was like meeting a celebrity! I held out my hand with my American money in it, she took what she wanted and placed a few coins back in my palm. Poor stupid immigrant, I knew she was thinking. In an instant, I related to everyone I had ever seen in America who struggled with the language and the culture. I am going to try to prepare so that experience won't repeat itself!